Caballo Lake State Park Day Two

With the call for a very windy day we thought another car ride was in order.Once again we would try to get to the Gila Cliff Dwellings we tried last year and it was too cold and snowy this year we made it as far as Silver City and decided it was just too late in the day to go over another mountain pass, it was just another 40 miles but because the pass is almost 10,000 feet it would take another two hours, so we stopped at McDonalds in Silver City and after a drive through the old section of town we started the two hour trek back over the pass and  home.

 We are staying in Truth or Consequences New Mexico at Lake Calballo State Park and to get to Silver City we had to go over the Emory Pass, which is almost 9000 feet elevation. The switch backs were so tight that the speed limit was only 10 and 15 miles per hour on the curves. Needless to say the trip up and down was just beautiful it takes you from the desert floor up to the Evergreen forest of the Black Range and the Mimbres Mountains and back down to the desert.  The weather turned out very nice, not as windy here as they predicted and a high of 80degrees it has been pretty cloudy though, which is unusual for New Mexico. 

 Lower elevation

 Climbing

 Emery Pass

 Emery Pass

Emery Pass

We passed through the town of Hillsboro on the way, this is main street.

Hillsboro Church

We also passed the Santa Rita Cooper Mine which is the oldest working mine in North America

Caballo Lake State Park

We got an early start today for a short drive north to Caballo Lake State Park. The day started with a beautiful sunrise and ended with some amazing colors. It was overcast until 1:00 PM then the sun appeared and it was gorgeous until 6:00. Then the wind picked up and the clouds moved in again.

We really didn’t do much today, however we did managed short drive around the area, and then hung out around the campground.  

 The sunset brought some amazing color to the hills across the lake and we managed to get some good pictures of them.

.Great start to a day

 Lake Caballo

 The Sun finally came out

 

We had a beautiful afternoon

 The wind picked up and the clouds blew in

 

Las Cruses New Mexico

We left Alamogordo yesterday morning (Sunday) and moved a little west to Las Cruses, maybe a two hour drive. We are 15 miles north of Las Cruses at Leasburg State Park.  We arrived early enough to beat the strong winds that had been fore casted. It did get very windy yesterday afternoon, a lot of dust was being blown around. We did drive into town to replenish our food stock and to stop at a large flea market that we had seen earlier on our way in along the freeway. The flea market was a bust because of the wind and the dust that was everywhere; we left without a purchase hoping there would be other opportunities for these huge sales.  

This morning we woke to a mostly overcast day. It was strange not seeing the blue sky. It did clear up however and the wind kicked up again, not as bad as yesterday but still windy. We drove back into town to explore the area. Just south of  Las Cruces we found the historic village of Mesilla, where Billy the Kid stood trial. Now the plaza of Old Mesilla is home to quaint shops offering crafts from local artisans as well as numerous restaurants serving authentic New Mexican cuisine.  We walked through the plaza and visited many of the shops. In the center of the plaza sits the San Albino Catholic Church. Another beautiful church we found, although not in the Mesilla area, was Our Lady of Health.

Our plan for now is to leave here in the morning and head an hours north to yet another one of New Mexico’s wonderful state parks.

 Our campsite

 Wind and sun protection

 Mesilla Plaza

 Interesting entry

 Old town, old car

 San Albino Catholic Church

 Inside San Albino

 Our Lady of Health

Alamogordo Day Two and Three

The day started out with coffee and breakfast outside, it never did get very chilly last night. We loaded up our laundry and headed into town. We spoke to two very nice ladies while we were doing laundry, who were snow birds from Wisconsin and have been coming down here every winter for a while now. They said this past winter was a cold one with temperatures hitting as low as 17 degrees. They said the nice days make up for the occasional cold one however.

After laundry we drove around town, we like to go back in the neighborhoods and get off the main drag, to get a feel for it. There are some beautiful areas here. After the drive it was back to the RV for lunch and to put our fresh wash away. With nothing scheduled for the remainder of the day and it being so nice out we decided to go back to White Sands National Monument. We were glad we did, it is such an unusual place. We parked the car and hiked over the dunes.  It was blinding if you took your sunglasses off.

We returned to the RV for some Johnsonville Brats on the grill and a quiet evening. We did manage to watch two episodes of Downton Abbey.    

We were planning on leaving here tomorrow but the forecast is calling for high winds. Down here high winds mean dust storms and we really don’t want to get caught in one. So we may end up sitting here for another day or so. This afternoon we could see sand being blown around over in White Sands, the wind however is not bad on this side of the valley (yet).

This morning was so beautiful we decided to take the Dog Canyon hike up into the canyon the complete hike is over 5.4 miles one way to the summit and an altitude gain of 3100 feet. We made it to the second bench which was 2.4 miles up, pretty good for oldies. Needless to say the 2.4 miles going down were so easy.  We returned to grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. The temperature reached about 80 with a sky so blue and clear, New Mexico has the bluest skies we have ever seen.

 View of the campgrounds from the top (as far up as we went anyways)

 Nice sunset